THE JIMMY DEAN SHOW – COUNTRY CLASSICS
premiers Saturday, August 3rd at 9:00pm on WTVP-HD 47.1.

- Episodes from Popular 1960s Television Show Not Seen in Fifty Years Showcase
Early Appearances of Country Music Greats -

Jimmy Dean, American singer, television host, actor and businessman, was the first
to bring country music to the mainstream in the 1960s through his national television variety
series. After nearly 50 years of being sealed off in the vaults and marking what would have been
Jimmy Dean’s 85th birthday, episodes from the 1963-1966 “Jimmy Dean Show” are resurfacing for
the first time in a PBS special. THE JIMMY DEAN SHOW – COUNTRY CLASSICS is part of
special programming premiering Saturday, August 3rd from 9:00-10:30pm on WTVP-HD 47.1.

Viewers will once again enjoy the early appearances of country stars like Chet
Atkins, George Jones, Buck Owens, Johnny Cash, Minnie Pearl, Dottie West and so many more. Longtime
friend, entertainer, actor and musician Roy Clark is the host, introducing the artists from the
series with anecdotes, stories and laughter. No stranger to television, Clark, a 20-year veteran
host of the series “Hee Haw,” made regular appearances on Dean’s show along with “Hee Haw” co-host
Buck Owens. As Jimmy Dean once said of Clark, “Everybody loves him. When he walks out on stage with
his bungling attitude as though he didn’t know what was going to happen next, the audience is
immediately on his side. It’s like cheering for the underdog or the hometown boy.”

“The Jimmy Dean Show,” initially called “Country Style,” aired live in Washington,
DC, starting in early 1957 before it was picked up by CBS nationally as a half-hour series under
the name “The Morning Show.” Starting in September 1963, ABC carried three seasons of the live
hour-long show featuring popular music artists and comics to round out its variety format, including
the first television appearance by Jim Henson’s piano-playing Muppet, Rowlf the Dog. The series
began in black and white, then moved into color in the fall season of 1965.

THE JIMMY DEAN SHOW – COUNTRY CLASSICS is a compilation of some of
these moments from the three-year broadcast run and features entertainment from some of the most
renowned country music legends and comedians, including Eddy Arnold, Buck Owens, Chet Atkins,
Johnny Cash, Minnie Pearl, Hank Williams Jr., Roger Miller, Jim Reeves, Dottie West and Ernest
Tubb.

THE JIMMY DEAN SHOW – COUNTRY CLASSICS premiers Saturday, August 3rd
at 9:00pm on WTVP-HD 47.1. and is part of the 2013 August Membership Drive.

Membership Thank You gifts

CD The Jimmy Dean Show: Country Classics Soundtrack

$60

3-DVD Set The Very Best of the Jimmy Dean Show, Vol. 1

$150

6-CD Set The Very Best of the Jimmy Dean Show, Vol. 1

$150

COMBO: 3-DVD Set + 6-CD Set

$250

For complete list of programs, air times and membership Thank You gifts. [Click Here]

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About Jimmy Dean

Jimmy Dean was born in Olton, Texas, on August 10, 1928. During his career as a
country star, he had #1 hits like “Big Bad John,” which won a Grammy® Award and sold more than
one million copies. Dean moved into the national television host role of “The Jimmy Dean Show,”
presenting country entertainers of the day, and then into acting, including his best-known role
as Willard Whyte in the 1971 James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever.

In 1969, Jimmy and brother Don founded the successful Jimmy Dean Sausage Company,
which today continues under the Sara Lee Corporation. In 1976, Dean’s tribute to his mother and
to mothers everywhere was the million-selling “I.O.U.,” which quickly became a Top 10 country hit.
Prior to his death, he was nominated for the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2010, although he was
formally inducted posthumously. Dean was a father of three children — Garry, Connie and Robert —
with his first wife, Mary Sue Dean, and grandfather to two granddaughters. He died June 13, 2010
of natural causes, survived by second wife, Donna.

About Roy Clark

In the 70s, Roy Clark symbolized country music in the U.S. and abroad. Between
guest-hosting for Johnny Carson on “The Tonight Show” and performing to packed houses in the
Soviet Union on a tour that sold out all 18 concerts, he used his musical talent and entertaining
personality to bring country music into homes across the world. As one of the hosts of TV’s
“Hee Haw” (Buck Owens was the other) for more than 20 years, Clark picked and sang and offered
country corn to 30 million people weekly.

He is first and foremost an entertainer, drawing crowds at venues as different as
Las Vegas, Atlantic City and the Opry. His middle-of-the-road approach filled a national void,
with Clark offering country that was harder-edged than Kenny Rogers but softer and more accessible
than Waylon Jennings. Among his numerous vocal hits are “Yesterday, When I Was Young” and “Thank
God and Greyhound.”

Instrumentally, he has won awards for both guitar and banjo. Clark landed spots
on “The Tonight Show” and the sitcom “The Beverly Hillbillies,” where he played both Cousin Roy
and Big Mama Halsey and co-starred on the silver screen with Mel Tillis in the comedy Uphill
All the Way.

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PBS special programming invites viewers to experience the worlds of science,
history, nature and public affairs; hear diverse viewpoints; and take front-row seats to world-class
drama and performances. Viewer contributions are an important source of funding, making PBS
programs possible. PBS and public television stations offer all Americans from every walk of life
the opportunity to explore new ideas and new worlds through television and online content.

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For further information contact Linda Miller, WTVP Vice President of
Programming,
at (309) 495-0591 or linda.miller@wtvp.org